Bernstein says that managed care organizations, or MCOs, will become more powerful as cost control increases in importance. The firm thinks that vendors, including pharmacy benefit managers, will be "squeezed" by MCOs as cost control becomes increasingly important. The firm adds that MCOs are also benefiting from acquisitions and pharmacy benefit management insourcing. It identifies MCOs Anthem (ANTM), UnitedHealth (UNH) and Aetna (AET) as its top picks, and started all three stocks with Outperform ratings. The firm initiated MCO Centene (CNC) and hospital owner HCA Holdings (HCA) with Market Perform ratings, and it started coverage of PBM Express Scripts (ESRX) with an Underperform rating.

Catheter Precision (VTAK) has received its first purchase order for LockeT from an HCA Healthcare (HCA) facility.

Augmedix (AUGX) announced the general availability of Augmedix Go for emergency departments, marking the launch of the industry's first fully-automated, generative AI powered medical documentation product for EDs across the country. The launch incorporates learnings from a pilot program with HCA Healthcare (HCA), one of the nation's leading healthcare providers. As part of the pilot, ED physicians in four HCA Healthcare hospitals utilized Augmedix Go to automate medical documentation, with the product instantaneously drafting their medical notes from patient visits. "The launch of Augmedix Go in the ED represents our unwavering commitment to develop solutions for health systems that improve their workflows. Our agility and flexible architecture, exhibited by our broad product suite and open network platform, help us address the complex and varying needs of clinicians and providers," said Manny Krakaris, CEO of Augmedix. "We have built a sophisticated platform designed to enable clinicians to be present with their patients while trusting that Augmedix technology is doing administrative work unobtrusively in the background."